Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 28, 2021
Jesus went up to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
I was in the newsroom where I work when I saw an incoming call from a hospital geneticist. I picked up and said, “Hello.” She asked me to sit down. Although she had a kind and warm voice, my heart started racing because I knew something was wrong.
She told me the baby boy we were expecting had a rare genetic condition called Williams syndrome, a 1 in 10,000 chance. She listed some traits associated with the syndrome while I frantically took notes in my reporter’s notepad I had grabbed off my desk. Looking back at that notebook, I can only make out certain words as my hands were shaking and tears smeared the pages.
…cognitive delays…distinct facial characteristics…congenital heart disease…
At first, sadness and confusion consumed my husband and me. We held each other for days and continued to pray for our son’s arrival.
Why was our son Iggy chosen for a life fraught with hardship and disease? We realized that just as Jesus “called his disciples to himself” and named them, we, too, were called and chosen for this journey as Iggy’s parents. Just as the apostles must have realized they would face challenges in a life of dedication to Jesus, we, too, accepted this challenging call of God’s will.
Our son Iggy is preparing for his fifth open-heart surgery. Just as the journey of the disciples was filled with both challenges and joy, Iggy’s life has built for us a perspective, a hope, and a happiness that we never imagined possible.
Iggy has started to take independent steps. He now eats independently (no more feeding tube) and fervently grins at his father when he says, “Dadda.” He is a beacon of light, who touches the heart of every person he meets. My husband Ignacio and I never knew we could ever feel so much pride and joy as parents.
Let us come together in prayer as Jesus’ chosen disciples to remember that even the unknown can be beautiful; even something unpredictable can be so wonderful.
Prayer
Christ, before you called the Apostles, you went alone to the mountain to pray to the Father. When we face important decisions, give us the courage to approach our Father as you did. Confident in God’s love for us, we know that God will inspire us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Like Saints Simon and Jude, may we be tireless in our proclamation of your kingdom to all we encounter. We ask in your holy name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Sts. Simon and Jude are often confused for more prominent characters in the Gospel narratives, so, unfortunately, we know comparatively little about them. Despite knowing little biographical information, we do know their most distinctive identity: they were faithful followers of Jesus.
St. Simon is known as the “zealous” (to distinguish him from Simon-Peter). The name is thought to either refer to his righteous zeal for the law or for his association with a Jewish political faction. Simon is mentioned only among the lists of the twelve Apostles in Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:18, and Luke 6:15. He is also mentioned in Acts, at the selection of Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:13), but he fades from the narrative after Pentecost.
The Apostle Jude also goes by the name of Thaddeus (as distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus) and was the brother of St. James the Lesser. Like Simon, Jude is mentioned in the Gospels usually as only a name in the list of followers of Jesus, although, unlike Simon, he is mentioned in the Gospel of John, at the Last Supper, and gets a speaking role, asking Jesus: "Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” (John 14:22) Similar to Simon, Jude is not mentioned in Acts after the events of Pentecost.
The most prominent traditions of these two saints in the Western Church tell us that Simon preached the Gospel in Egypt and Jude in Mesopotamia. The two met and traveled to Persia to spread the good news and were martyred there—thus, they are honored together, on the same feast day, in the Roman Catholic Church. Among Eastern Christian churches, different traditions hold that Simon was killed in Persia, in Samaria, and in Edessa. Thus, the saints are honored on different feast days in Eastern Christian churches.
There is a short letter in the New Testament that is attributed to a writer named Jude, but this author and St. Jude Thaddeus are not the same person. The author of the letter is purportedly a different Jude—a relation of Jesus, through either Mary or Joseph (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3).
St. Jude is honored as the patron of impossible causes, possibly because he was often confused with Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and fell into despair. Another possible reason he is the patron of desperate situations could follow from people confusing him with the author of the Letter of Jude, which encourages the faithful to persevere through difficult situations and persecution. Because of his association with lost causes, St. Jude is often invoked in hospitals and among those facing life-threatening illness.
The account of St. Simon's martyrdom attributes his death to having been sawed in two. Thus, Simon became the patron saint of woodcutters.
Two statues of St. Jude stand on campus—one in between the Basilica and Corby Hall and the other in the chapel in Siegfried Hall. Relics of both Sts. Simon and Jude rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
St. Jude, patron of impossible causes and desperate situations, and St. Simon, the zealous—pray for us!